Nemesis: The Search for Orion Read online

  Nemesis

  The Search for Orion

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  Introduction

  The small shuttle broke into normal space and remained motionless. It scanned the space around the dead planet and after thirty minutes it began moving into the vast field of dead starships. This planet was the site of a massive space battle and it was clear the defenders had lost. The once beautiful blue and green world was burned to its bedrock and some of the sites of atomic explosions still glowed on the night side of the planet. A huge area more than two thousand miles across glowed bright enough to be seen in daylight.

  The attackers had not fared well, either. Tens of thousands of Warships were scattered around the debris field and many of them out on the edge appeared to be unharmed. They only appeared that way; most of them were dangerously radioactive. The massive radioactive storm that swept over them killed the crews and made the ships’ too dangerous to approach…for most life forms. The shuttle moved up next to a medium sized crimson colored ship and an eight-legged creature scuttled across the shuttle’s hull and leaped to the hull of the dead warship. It activated the external landing bay control and the door disappeared into the ship’s hull. The shuttle flew into the ship and the door closed behind it. Lights began illuminating on the dead ship’s hull and after twenty minutes, the thrusters ignited, turning the ship away from the debris field and out into open space. It stopped and after a moment, it disappeared.

  Chapter One

  The world was a wet silver mist that enclosed everything in existence. It had no beginning and no end. He opened his eyes and was blinded by the light surrounding him. He felt nothing; the light was his only perception. He focused on his arms and was unable to feel or move them. He tried to take a breath and his lungs shut as water entered his mouth. He started struggling but the silver mist restrained him. A moment later, the water disappeared and the light grew brighter.

  “He’s waking up!”

  “Get him out of the water!”

  “He’s struggling too hard.”

  “Cut the web away!”

  He could hear the voices but he didn’t understand them. He finally choked on the water that went into his lungs and he started coughing in spasms. He tried to take another breath and…air entered his lungs. He took a deep breath and then everything turned dark.

  • • •

  “How much longer do you think he’s going to be out?”

  “I have no idea. This is unfamiliar territory for all of us. If the first one is any indication, probably another twelve hours.”

  “He looks normal.”

  “That is also something I don’t understand.”

  He opened his eyes and said, “What don’t you understand?”

  He saw two large creatures sitting on the ground next to him. He saw them jump to their feet and he struggled with a memory, “Iggy, Slick…” He looked around and saw he was lying on a mat of woven grass next to a lagoon. He shook his head, “I thought I was dead.”

  “You were.”

  Grant tried to sit up and failed, “Then how am I…”

  “We retrieved a piece of your dead body and brought it back here.”

  “What?”

  The huge reptile smiled, “It has taken six months but you grew back from that piece we retrieved. What is your last memory?”

  Grant closed his eyes and struggled to think, “The Earth Battleship fired on us from point blank range.”

  Iggy looked at Slick, “It’s just like with our children. His memories are retained in his DNA.”

  Suddenly Grant started twitching as his nerves began pulling his muscles; the pain was incredible and the two creatures held him down attempting to keep him still. After fifteen minutes, his mind cleared and he whispered, “Where’s Cinny!?!”

  “Calm down. She’s in the hut resting. She woke up two days ago.” Grant’s eyes narrowed and Slick said, “We were able to take a larger piece of her from the Nemesis. She had a little less to regrow than you.”

  Grant felt the grass mat under him and closed his eyes, “I’m so weary.”

  “Relax, you’re going to fall asleep in a few moments but you’ll wake up again in another day.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Grant’s eyes began closing as Iggy said, “That’s how it happened with Cinny. I’ll go tell her you’re back.”

  • • •

  Grant eyes opened and he felt like eight miles of bad highway. He had aches in places he didn’t know he had. He couldn’t feel anything when he first regained consciousness but now he could feel everything and it was the most pain he had ever endured. His nerves felt like they were on fire. He kept his eyes closed and tried to breathe slowly.

  He didn’t know how long he fought the pain but he finally opened his eyes and saw a thatch roof over his head. He tried to focus on where he was. After a moment, he remembered talking with Iggy and Slick. He felt a cool, moist breeze blowing and it felt wonderful on his aching head. He tried to sit up and was hit by a wave of dizziness. He fell back and closed his eyes. The vertigo passed and he struggled to roll over on his right side. He finally managed to turn his head and saw the trees next to the hut and was glad for the shade they offered.

  His eyes moved to the left and he saw Cinny standing in sand next to the lagoon. She was going through stretching exercises and she looked…incredible. He smiled and thanked creation that she was still alive. He smiled and saw her glance his way. She saw his eyes were open and she screamed as she sprinted toward him. He rolled his head back over just as she came under the roof and fell to the ground beside him. She went up on an elbow and looked into his eyes. He smiled and said, “Long time no see.”

  She smiled, leaned down, and tenderly kissed him. He felt a heat rush through him that was an entirely new experience. His eyes narrowed and Cinny’s eyes twinkled, “I think the compulsions we had put in us that kept us from our real feelings were left on the Nemesis.”

  He looked up at her and managed to whisper, “Could you do that again?”

  Cinny giggled and kissed him again. She finally broke the kiss and said, “I know you’re hurting but you have to get up and start stretching. The pain won’t go away until you start moving your muscles and joints.”

  He closed his eyes and winced, “Help me up.” Cinny grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. She quickly grabbed him and held him up until the vertigo passed. “I guess Ana was right about us regenerating our bodies.”

  “It appears Earth was aware of it.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Two Spiders hid on the Nemesis against the off chance that we might be killed. They managed to take a piece of our bodies off the ship and escape before a hundred warships came in and blasted every molecule of matter where we died.”

  “We should thank them.”

  “I already have. Another thing you might want to know is they took the key out of the console as well.”

  �
��Why? It isn’t any good without the Nemesis.”

  “That’s not quite true.”

  “Huh?”

  “Every Earth Warship has that slot in the control panel.”

  Grant’s eyes widened, “Then all we need to do is steal an Earth Warship to have her back.”

  “The Spiders have already taken care of that little task.”

  Grant took a step and nearly stumbled. Cinny held him up and he felt her under his arm. She looked at him and smiled, “I feel good, don’t I?”

  Grant chuckled, “Am I that obvious?”

  “I can feel you.”

  “What did you mean by the Spiders stealing a ship?”

  “They actually didn’t steal one. They took possession of more than eight hundred of them.”

  Grant stopped walking, “WHAT?”

  “They went to the site of the last battles the Raiders fought with Earth. There are thousands of warships there that are pretty much undamaged.”

  “Why were they left behind?”

  “The nuclear cloud the Raiders made with their planet killer missiles killed the crews and caused the ships to be too radioactive to approach. They wrote them off as destroyed.”

  Grant started walking again and said, “The Spiders won’t be affected by radioactivity.”

  Cinny nodded, “They actually love it. They’ve absorbed all of it from four ships and left the others radioactive.”

  “Why?”

  “They thought we each might want a ship and they also cleared one for Whippet. They left the others radioactive to provide them energy.”

  “Who is the fourth one for?”

  “It’s an extra in the event another one gets shot out from under us.”

  “That’s not a bad idea. What did they do with the shuttles they took?”

  “They’re on board the new ships.”

  “Did they take a battleship?”

  “No, Grant. Do you have any idea how many spiders it would take to cover one of them?”

  Grant sighed, “I’m not thinking clearly. You’re right.” He paused and said, “But…”

  “I know, you think the spiders could be on the hull and fire their beams and the ship wouldn’t be in as much danger as the Nemesis Class?”

  “It wouldn’t. Its force field is much stronger and its weapons are three times more powerful.”

  “Grant, the spiders destroyed hundreds of those battleships with just two shuttles. Two Earth Battleships could kill another battleship pretty easily if its entire hull wasn’t covered with Spiders. It takes quite a few of them to even kill a shuttle with the spiders on its hull.”

  Grant stopped walking again. He looked at Cinny, “I’m starting to remember more now. How did the spiders manage to take a ship without being detected by Earth’s subspace detectors?”

  Cinny tilted her head left and then back up, “Taking the first one was the real risk. They sent a shuttle in and waited to see if they would be attacked.”

  “How were they able to fly it?”

  “Will you let me finish!” Grant closed his mouth and Cinny smiled, “That’s better. The two spiders that hid on the Nemesis watched us fly it for a number of months. They went with the shuttle and flew the first one back here. Once they had it, Ana taught them how to use the ship’s systems.”

  “Did the ships’ computers resist her?”

  “They did initially. However, once she downloaded what Earth had done to Avalon, all of their resistance vanished.”

  “I would think it would take a lot more than just information to take control of them.”

  “Grant, a computer is built around processing information. They don’t have emotions, so they can see things clearly. Remember that the original Nemesis was built on Avalon and the computer that was on our ship was copied and installed on all of Earth’s ships. You should also remember that the ship’s computer did not work with Ana when she was an agent working for Earth. The computers have something inside them that is still Avalon created and the ships were easily converted to our using them.”

  They stood in the sand and Cinny said, “You need to start stretching. I’ll help you get started and you’ll be able to do it alone pretty quickly. Are you ready?”

  “Cinny, I love you.”

  Cinny’s smile was huge, “I know. And you should be able to see how I feel as well.”

  Grant stared at her and lowered his head, “I know.”

  Cinny gripped his arms and said, “Start with forward lunges. We’ll go toe touches after twenty.” Grant groaned and started.

  • • •

  Iggy looked at Slick, “It appears they are getting back to normal.”

  “It does.”

  “Have you thought about what we’re going to do with all these warships your children have collected?”

  The spider looked at the huge reptile, “I honestly haven’t. I was hoping you would have some ideas.”

  “The problem is that once we use them, they’ll know they didn’t kill us.”

  Slick lowered himself to the ground, “That has crossed my mind.”

  Iggy shrugged, “So why did you get them?”

  “If nothing else, they can be used to defend this planet on the off chance we’re discovered.”

  Iggy nodded, “I guess.”

  Slick stared at him and said, “Buttttt…”

  “I didn’t like the way they killed our children and celebrated their deaths. It ticks me off.”

  Slick changed color briefly and said, “I could hear them in my mind as they died.”

  Iggy nodded and looked at Grant and Cinny exercising next to the hut, “I think I understand how they feel about the destruction of Avalon.”

  Slick went up on his legs for a moment and then went back down. He was at a smaller size and looked like the Daddy Longlegs Spider that was used to make him, “I must confess that I’ve not been fully invested in punishing Earth for what it did to Avalon.” Slick looked at Iggy, “You and I have remained here away from the fighting. My reason for attacking them was that they were bent on killing us and all our children.”

  Iggy smiled showing huge teeth. He was not at his largest size but was still two hundred feet long. The descendent of a Nile Crocodile was a vision out of a drug induced nightmare, “Buttttt…”

  “Now you’re being sarcastic.”

  “Buttttt…”

  “You’re right! I get it now!”

  Iggy shrugged, “I’m just sayin’.” Slick remained silent and Iggy said, “You’re worried about the cost of going after them.”

  “I didn’t know you could read my mind.”

  “I can’t. However, you and I share a common concern.” Slick stared at him and Iggy said, “If we stay out of this fight and Earth grows to the point of being an all-conquering force, we will always be worried that they might stumble upon us here and then it would be too late. I’d hate having to keep looking over my shoulder my entire life fearing that they might find us.”

  “It would eventually happen. Maybe not soon but once Earth is victorious over all the civilizations; they will start looking for planets that are habitable to expand their empire.”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “Hey, you started this.” Iggy roared with laughter. Slick went up and down twice and said, “Alright! We have to get into this fight. You just had to make me say it.”

  “Where do we start?”

  Slick raised a leg and pointed at Cinny and Grant, “I think there would be a good place to start. Mother agrees and says we should follow their lead.”

  Iggy looked over at the four large Ants next to the tree line and heard, “I thought we would gather the Earth Ships and use them to harass them. I see that the two of you are right, we can’t wait to confront this menace.”

  Iggy looked at the two small humans and said, “I like the way you think, Mother.”

  • • •

  Grant began to loosen up and started moving into various c
ombat positions. After two hours he was moving from one to another in perfect form but at a much faster speed than he had ever been able to do before. Cinny stopped moving and, after a moment, moved over beside him and joined him in the dance of death. They moved at a speed that was hard to see and neither of them were winded by the effort. Grant suddenly stopped and Cinny stopped the same moment. “How were you able to stop at the same time?”

  “I could see you stopping.”

  “Cinny, something is different.”

  Cinny stared at him and sat down on the sand. Grant sat down in front of her and she said, “This is pure speculation but I suspect that Earth did more than just stop us from being attracted to each other.”

  “I want to try something.”

  “What is that, Grant?”

  “Put on your armor.” The two went into the hut and put on their armor the Spiders had placed there. “Where did the spiders get our armor?”

  Cinny shook her head, “You had them take everything off the Nemesis to reduce its weight. There are three suits in the storage shuttle.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot.”

  Cinny locked up the combat helmet and connected it to the body armor, “What do you want to do?”

  Grant sealed his helmet and said, “Come with me.” The two of them walked by Slick and Iggy toward the lagoon, “Good day, my friends.”

  • • •

  Iggy said, “Good day.” He looked at Slick, “What are they doing?”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea.” Iggy turned and followed them toward the lagoon. Slick jumped up and followed him too.

  They arrived at the shore of the lagoon and Grant pulled his blaster, “Cinny, I am going to fire a blaster bolt by you toward the water. I want you to try and hit it with one of your blaster bolts before it passes you.”

  “Grant, that’s impossible.”

  “Even so, I want you to try.” Grant walked back toward the hut for fifty paces and turned and faced Cinny. Iggy and slick watched him walk past them and they heard what he told Cinny. They were standing directly between them, they rushed over behind Grant. Iggy immediately reduced his size to thirty feet. Slick saw him and he jumped up on Iggy’s back and went to three feet high.